A footbridge that crosses over highway near Montreal partially collapsed after being hit by a snow-removal truck Tuesday night.

The truck was travelling westbound on Highway 132 with its box propped up when it hit the underside of the pedestrian walkway in Longueuil around 8 p.m., said Sgt. Claude Denis of the Sûreté du Québec.

An SUV driver tried to stop abruptly, but her car wound up on top of the rubble on the eastbound 132.

She and the driver of the dump truck were taken to hospital after suffering from shock.

Alain Collin, a motorist who was travelling behind the dump truck, told Radio-Canada that when the raised box hit the bridge, part of the structure collapsed onto the highway.

Police planned to question him later about the accident, Denis said.

Longueuil Mayor Caroline St-Hilaire said she hopes that the pedestrian overpass will be demolished as soon as possible because it is essential that the highway be reopened to allow commuters to get to and from Montreal.

Traffic was stopped in both directions between Roland-Therrien Blvd. and the Jacques Cartier Bridge.

Dario Ayala / Postmedia NewsA closed off portion of Highway 132 at the scene of a collapsed pedestrian bridge Tuesday.

Denis said the SQ is still investigating the accident. Highway 132 west was reopened to traffic at 5:45 a.m. and the eastbound lanes opened at 6:15 a.m. Wednesday.

The 132 is a major route on the South Shore used by thousands of motorists every day. Transport Quebec engineers were en route Tuesday night to inspect the structure.

The footbridge was upgraded last summer and is closed from November to April. It links Marie-Victorin Park and Lemoyne Park and is used to access a nearby marina.

Graham Hughes / Canadian PressEmergency workers are shown at the scene where a pedestrian overpass collapsed in Longueuil, Que., on Tuesday.

Graham Hughes / Canadian PressEmergency workers are shown at the scene where a pedestrian overpass collapsed in Longueuil, Que.

Residents of Longueuil, St-Hubert, Boucherville and St-Bruno are told not to use the cities’ tap water following a 28,000-litre diesel spill at a pumping station that made its way into the water network.

The city of Longueuil put the advisory in place after citizens began complaining about the smell and taste of diesel in drinking water Thursday morning.

According to city officials, crews will be cleaning out the pumping station and sampling water where citizens complained. Results should be made available this afternoon.

During a press conference Thursday morning, officials stressed that traces of diesel in the water do not mean the city’s water is seriously contaminated.

“There was no reason to put a ban on drinking water yesterday, however, there were complaints this morning and by precaution, we decided to go further,” said Longueuil Mayor Caroline St-Hilaire.

In the meantime, it will set up four sites to distribute bottled water to affected residents. The locations of these sites have not been announced yet.

Public health officials are telling residents to use bottle water to prepare food, beverages, and ice. Anything prepared with tap water since yesterday should be discarded.

Since there are only trace amounts of diesel in the water, officials do have serious concerns for people’s health. Possible symptoms of diesel poisoning include nausea, stomach ache and diarrhea, said Marc-André Lemieux, director of public health for the Montérégie region. But so far, none of these have been widely reported.

Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre said the city is working with Longueuil and government ministries on the diesel spill.

The cause of the leak

The spill was traced to a generator that powered pumps at a pumping station at 850 St-Charles St. W. Most of it spilled onto the river, but some made it into a sewage drain. It made its way along a long pipe to the Centre d’épuration Rive-Sud, a treatment station on Île Charron by Boucherville.

From there, it was pumped into the drinking water system.

Delays in communication

Christian Blanchette, the regional coordinator for Urgence-Environnement, said the large fuel spill could not be properly contained or cleaned up because authorities were not made aware of the issue fast enough.

“There was a delay between the 4 a.m. and 8 a.m. period and yesterday. I asked [the city’s] management to do an investigation into that time frame and that’s what’s happening now. This is the result of broken equipment. There was no negligence whatsoever,” said St-Hilaire.

Municipal authorities say the leak happened when one of the fuel pipes attached to an emergency motor broke at the raw water pumping station at the CERS.

An official with Urgence-Environnement went to the scene Wednesday morning and noticed the leak had reached the St-Lawrence River.

“No attempts at confinement or recuperation were made,” Blanchette said.

Employees at the pumping station noticed a strong odour around 4 a.m. Wednesday, he said. Staff at the Longueuil water treatment plant made the first call to Urgence-Environnement around 9:20 a.m. to signal the 28,000-litre leak — worth approximately half of a fuel truck’s load.

This is the result of broken equipment. There was no negligence whatsoever

“The reservoir completely emptied itself and the diesel infiltrated the city’s sewage system. It was pumped to Île Charron, the water treatment plant for the city of Longueuil,” Blanchette said.

Firefighters were not aware of the situation until Urgence-Environnement called them at 10 a.m. They opened a command post at Île Charron “to see what could be done to confine and recover the hydrocarbons, as should be done.”

“Between the wee hours of the morning and 9 a.m., something should have been done but wasn’t,” Blanchette said. He said an investigation into the leak will help determine who is at fault.

Because of the delay, along with the water current and the ice that covers the river, it was too late to deploy the necessary equipment and clean up the leak.

According to La Presse Canadienne, Longueuil city hall received a notice about the leak early Wednesday morning. A press release by the city notes that “the city and Longueuil fire services are working closely together with the ministry of sustainable development, environment and fight against climate change during this incident.”

If we had concluded the presence of diesel in the system from the start, we would have called the minister faster

Blanchette admitted there could have been negligence in the case.

“Article 21 in the law on the quality of environment states that whoever is responsible for an accidental leak must advise the minister without delay. Articles 8 and 9 of the law on hazardous materials states that this person must not only contact the minister, but stop the leak and take the necessary measures to recover the hydrocarbons — considered to be dangerous materials. This wasn’t done,” he said.

Wednesday evening, Bernard Brigras, the spokesman for the city of Longueuil, said lessons had to be learned from this event.

“We have to make adjustments, primarily in our internal communication processes. Being able to identify a leak in our systems, particularly when it involves one of our generators, is important. But in the end, there was no impact on the quality of the water available throughout the municipality,” he said.

Bigras said the information made available early in the day did not clearly state the presence of diesel.

“If we had concluded the presence of diesel in the system from the start, we would have called the minister faster. We weren’t notified before 8:30 a.m.,” he said.

On Wednesday evening, residents of Longueuil took to social media to complain about a smell and taste of diesel in their tap water.

In a Thursday morning interview with Paul Arcand of 98.5 FM, Bigras said that the city had received complaints from residents about a smell and taste of diesel in the water, the Journal de Montréal reported.

As a precaution, authorities with Urgence-Environnement have advised the municipalities of Verchères, Contrecoeur and Varennes — which use water from the St-Lawrence River near the leak’s location.

The Coast Guard, Environment Canada and officials working for the St-Lawrence’s Maritime way were also made aware of the situation.

The Marie-Victorin school board says it will provide drinking water to affected schools.